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Cross Country Meet Recap

I haven’t had time to blog about my past few cross country meets, until now. So, I’m blogging about them in a combined post. Get ready, get set, go!

On Saturday, September 28th I raced at the Griak Invitational 5k in Bloomington, Minnesota. This meet is a big deal because it’s a 5k (high school girls in Iowa run the 4k,) an out of state meet, and only the top ten on our team get to go and race. The High School Girls’ Varsity race is huge, like 500 girls (there are actually 2 races, each with about 500 girls.) It’s a great course that’s super hilly and well-marked. The Griak is hosted by the University of Minnesota and named after Roy Griak. They always have the coolest t-shirts for sale and a giant inflatable mascot above the finish line! There are also high school boys and college races. (You wouldn’t believe the number of porta potties.) The competition is big. Student-athletes come from all over the country come to Bloomington for this meet. My race went okay. I got super boxed in at the beginning (which involved a lot of shoving and elbowing,) which was very frustrating. The rest of the race went well but my time and place were not as good as last year. The Griak is also really special because we get out of school early the day before and go to The Mall of America for shopping and a late dinner at the Rainforest Cafe! It’s so much fun and the team gets really close on this trip!

On Tuesday, October 1st I ran at the Waukee Invitational Meet at Valley Southwoods (don’t ask…) It was my first J.V. meet (long story, but don’t worry I got my Varsity spot back!) I was 6th place and felt strong during the race evn though it was super hot and the footing was messy.

On Thursday October 10th, I ran my second (and hopefully last) ever J.V. race at the Fort Dodge Invite. The charter bus ride up and back was fun and filled with snacks and James Bond movies. I had a great race and earned my Varsity spot back. I felt great and raced hard and am proud of myself, even though my time was slower than last year. (If you can’t already tell, I’m still trying to convince myself of that.)I love the Fort Dodge course. It has a wide start, short grace, clean footing and a downhill finish. The weather was perfect, too.

I also wanted to mention (very randomly) that I had a great workout today. One of those days were there’s no twinges of pain, your shoes fit perfect, you picked the right socks to wear, your shorts don’t chafe, it’s nice and cool out, you wouldn’t mind running a little longer, you feel loose and free and strong and fast. As Brooks would say, It’s a “Run Happy” sort of day. I think it’s also a sign that I’m ready for a racing breakthrough…… fingers crossed!